TN: Three Stirm Wines...(short/boring)

My Stirm order arrived Fri, so tried last night:

  1. stirm Riesling Kick-OnVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty (13.1%; www.StirmWine.com) RyanStirm/Watsonville 2019: Light gold color; fairly strong floral/R/mango/pineapple rather chalky/mineral/perfumed talc quite fragrant lovely nose; quite tart/tangy/bit metallic fairly strong R/floral/mango/slight pineapple strong mineral/chalky/perfumed talc very dry slightly austere quite savory/bit saline lovely R flavor; very long/lingering fairly strong R/floral/mango/pineapple some mineral/chalky/perfumed talc savory/saline lovely finish; reminds some of the Trimback R but not quite as perfumed; lots of savory character but belies the 13.1% alcohol and avoids the lean/eviscerated character of some R; quite a lovely expression of Calif R at a very fair price. $28.00

  1. stirm Riesling PeterMartinRayVnyd/SantaCruzMtns (13.1%) 2019: Med.light gold color; lightly perfumed floral/R/mango quite mineral/chalky/flinty/perfumed talc bit metallic slight petrol some complex lovely R nose; fairly tart/tangy/bit metallic rather mineral/perfumed talc/chalky/flinty somewhat richer quite dry/savory but not pinched/austere strong floral/R/mango/bit pineapple bit petrol/Mosel valve oil lovely R flavor; very long/lingering strong floral/R/mango/bit pineapple/peach blossom fairly mineral/perfumed talc quite savory some complex finish; much more savory/mineral character; reminds a lot of the old StonyHill R, a bit of the old FreemarkAbbey R w/o the oak; a lot of the old MonteBelloRidge R w/o all the oak; suspect this will put on weight & develop into a terrific Calif R w/ 3-8 yrs of age; a bit pricey, probably because of the cost/pedigree of the MartinRay grapes. $55.00

  1. stirm Syrah Miers-KuensterVnyd/SonomaVlly (13%) Watsonville 2019: Dark color; strong spicy/blackberry/Syrah slight whole-cluster/Rhonish slight peppery/earthy quite attractive nose; quite tart/tangy/bit grapefruity fairly spicy/blackberry/Syrah/bit peppery light earthy rather lean/hard/austere bit w-c/Rhonish flavor w/ ample hard tannins; long quite tart/tangy/bit metallic rather austere/hard/tannic bit w-c/Rhonish strong blackberry/spicy/peppery finish w/ ample hard/grippy tannins; reminds a lot of the Arnot-Roberts single vnyd Syrahs; lots of attractive varietal Syrah character but rather hard/unforgiving/austere on the palate; needs some 3-6 yrs of age. $28.00

A wee BloodyPulpit:

  1. RyanStirm hailed from ContraCosta and attended CalPoly/SLO. He’s been around the block a time or two: SaucelitoCnyn/Tyler/Lieu-Dit/MargaretRiver/Wachau/ThomasFogarty. He started his own wnry in the PajaroVlly in Aromas, near Watsonville. I believe it was the old RiverRunWnry property. He is particularly passionate about Riesling…primarily because of its high terpene content. As Ryan says: “it’s our mission to pioneer the new age of California Riesling”. That might strike some as a bit grandiose of a statement but he’s getting some real help from a number of other producers. Like Bedrock and Cody&Emily Rasmussen at DesireLine/ColeRanch. I’m finding a lot of the recent Calif R that I’m really liking. They avoid the tutti-fruity part of the R spectrum, the Zind-Humbrechy excesses, and are pretty much totally dry. The Bedrocks from WirzVnyd and ColeRanch are terrific. I predict many of them will put on weight & evolve into quite complex R. Not Mosel nor AltoAdige nor Alsace nor Wachau; but distinctly Calif in their own way. And, of course, we are told by all the “wine experts” that R displays terroir more than any other grape!!
    I liked both of these R quite a lot. I think Ryan is on the right track in what he’s seeking to do. Maybe not the pioneer he’s hoping to be, but right up there on the front lines, anyway. Stirm is a name to watch.
    Tom
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Thanks for the notes Tom, I was scared off by the price tag for the Peter Martin Ray Riesling but have been enjoying most of Ryan’s wines from every release since I first heard about the wines maybe 3-4 years ago. I am also happy to see things looking up for Riesling in California, as for far to long it has been more of a tasting room after thought for that one person who is looking for something a little sweet or a low end grocery store cash flow wine.

Thanks for the tasting notes, Tom!!

I loved the 2016 “Kick On Ranch” Riesling from STiRM! I have a bottle of the '16 “Wirz Vineyard” Riesling sitting around. Perhaps I will pop it this summer.

Ryan still is very hands-on in the farming of Pat Wirz’s Cienega Valley vineyard, I believe.

I think CA and even New World Riesling is kind of in the same spot red wines were 40-50 years ago here. Then it was all about emulating French wines and regions. Red CA wines found their own voice and in many instances came full circle to influence French wines (Rolland, Cambie etc). But Riesling here has not yet been allowed to speak in it’s own voice, it’s still in the “emulating German” mode. And constantly compared. That’s a spot you can’t win, in my opinion.

I know I’m like a broken record on this, but the dry style is perfect for the generally hotter New World. It’s a style we can own and excel at. Look at Australia - killing it in that department. It just takes US producers to stop trying to make German wines.

US Riesling producers - let’s make world class dry wines, let’s show them! If we build it, they’ll come. All the Chardonnay drinkers could be Riesling drinkers in 20 years time from now, if we just move forward with confidence and our own identity. We can do this! [cheers.gif] pileon

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Yup, Adam…couldn’t agree more. 40-50 yrs ago, the focus was about emulating the corresponding European regions. The closer your Cabernet tasted to RedBdx, thet better it was. Use lots of Fr.oak to hammer that point home.
Back 40-50 yrs ago, most of the wine writers were in the British press & they naturally looked to Europe for how those wines should speak. But as more & more Americans, like BillMassee and such, started to write eloquently
about (mostly) Calif wines, they began to acknowledge them as good wines in their own right and eschewed comparisons to their European counterparts. You can’t make Mosel in the CienegaVlly, but you can make darn good
CienegaVlly Riesling.
So, I, too, am very encouraged by the dry Rieslings that are coming from Calif & OR. And I think as they put on age, they will start being acknowledged as great wines in their own right.
And you’re right about the Aussies killing it w/ Riesling. And, man, can those wines age into something special.
Tom

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Agreed Tom! Pretty consistently the Aussie ones have shown the great possibilities!

And to think that as recently as 2001, the Australian classification system allowed any white wine, from any grape, to be labeled Riesling! It was the only grape that was excluded by the stricter classification system that came into place in 1993. And only because producers like Jeffrey Grosset fought for a decade, did they even bother to change it in 2001.

But it shows what is possible to do (and the domestic acceptance levels you can achieve) in just 20 years…